M. Vitaly- Lenten epistle

The 1999 Lenten Epistle
of Metropolitan Vitaly

 

Beloved children of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia...

The Great Fast is great not because of its length - it is more than 40 days if we include Holy Week - but because during this time we are preparing to meet Holy Pascha. To meet Pascha worthily it is absolutely essential to fast. In this respect our struggle has become very feeble. There are very few people in the Russian Church Abroad who observe the fast periods and fast days, such as Wednesday and Friday, appointed by the Church. But this is so important. During the Great Lent even people who are the most inveterate, indifferent and cold towards Orthodoxy begin to think about fasting. These people who have grown cold towards the Truth make some kind of struggle at this time, even if it is only during Holy Week.

Without fasting there is no prayer. Fasting does not just mean going hungry. Be sure to remember that! I repeat, it is not a question of going hungry, but of self-restraint, or abstinence. This means abstinence not just in what we eat, but in all our senses, all the manifestations of our souls, our hearts and our minds. And so, in preparing for Pascha, we must fast - fast in the way the Church prescribes for us. Without fasting there will be no pure and sincere prayer.

So, beloved brothers and sisters, let us prepare ourselves for this Great Fast. Let us try to make use of the time so as to greet Pascha worthily. Pascha will enter our souls in such measure as we cleanse our souls through fasting. This is why people who have fasted experience Pascha in all its profundity and beauty. "Even the sun dances at Pascha!" - so speaks the voice of faith in the Russian people.

Pascha and the Great Fast are inseparable, indivisible. We all know that love is the supreme virtue of all virtues; but we expend and lavish this virtue on ourselves by indulging ourselves in everything. So fasting is in its essence an expression of non-indulgence towards ourselves, a certain denial of love towards ourselves. In this way God's gift of love is conserved and we are able to love our neighbour and the Lord Himself.

This is precisely the kind of Fast to which I am calling you, so that you can experience Pascha as it should be experienced, for Pascha will enter our souls in such measure as we, through our Lenten struggle, prepare this holy place for it.

 

Metropolitan Vitaly
16/29 January 1999